Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“We’re at a restaurant,” I said as I walked away, heading to the bar. The moment I had the bartender’s attention, I said, “Can you make me a virgin strawberry daiquiri?”
“Ten-four.” The bartender walked away and was back less than a minute later with the glass.
“Can you give me like ten of those cherries?” I jerked my head toward the plastic glass holding them behind the bar.
“Sure,” he said and gave me a small bowl full.
I carried all of it back to the table and set them in front of her.
“Both, please,” I said. “I don’t want you to stop until you’re done.”
I should’ve paid better attention to what she’d eaten at dinner, and maybe I wouldn’t have heard that dreaded, god-awful sound.
“Sigh,” Nastya said as she drank half the glass, then stopped and licked her lips. “Yum!”
I crossed my arms over my chest and watched her until she was done.
Only when the last cherry passed over her lips did I look up and find…every single eye at the table focused solely on us.
“I’m going to head to the bathroom.” She turned and spotted her bodyguard. “Are you coming or what, Daniil?”
Daniil, the man that’d been assigned as her new protector by Shasha the moment we’d entered Jack’s, looked down at the tiny woman in front of him and said, “Where to?”
“The bathroom.” She rolled her eyes. “Do try to keep up.”
The two of them left, leaving me the only person left at the table standing and still being stared at.
“What?” I asked, disconcerted for a long moment.
“You got her to eat, and you got her to eat without bitching,” Dima answered.
I snorted. “Sometimes you just have to force-feed her.”
“We’ve tried,” Maven drawled. “Trust us, we’ve tried. She hates this disease.”
“I agree, I think she hates it, yes,” I conceded. “But she’s not being dumb about it. She just procrastinates. If you bring her the food, she takes care of herself. I think she’s just embarrassed when she has to do it in a room full of people—especially when she has to give herself insulin.”
“If she’d get the insulin pump, then it might be easier for her,” Dima grumbled.
I had a feeling this was a constant battle in the Semyonov family.
I also had a feeling that there was a lot more going on here than met the eye.
“She explained to you why she doesn’t want it,” Auden Carter pointed out. “And I tend to agree with her. It’s a hindrance. The pros don’t outweigh the cons for her.”
It also sounded like Auden was a voice of reason in this crazy, overprotective family.
“They might, but she’d always have the high blood sugar thing figured out, and she’d be able to sleep better if she knew she didn’t have to get up to fix her issues.” Milena added her two cents.
“You can talk about the benefits all you want, but you won’t get her to agree,” Shasha grumbled. “I’ve been banging my head against that particular door for years.”
“If he can get her to listen to her body—and that machine—I say we force them to marry.” Auden chuckled, clearly joking.
Yet, the thought of marrying her, of giving Nastya my last name and making her mine…
I snorted. “I don’t think we’re quite ready to commit that fully.”
“Your loss, my friend.” He grinned. “Even if you didn’t share what happened today with me, I would’ve understood, you know.”
No doubt that he would, but still. I had to keep it quiet. Him getting involved meant he got his father involved, and his father was the chief of police.
“So does this mean you’ll be moving in with my sister at her place by mine?” Shasha asked after a long moment.
I looked over my shoulder just in time to see Nastya slip out of the restroom, stopping next to Daniil’s solid bulk.
She said something to him that made him smirk, then she flipped him off and headed back to our table.
“I’m going to go pack my own bag.” She looked at me. “I’ll send you the address. Your daughter can come, too.” She paused. “She goes to West Dallas High, right?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“She can ride to school with Alexi if you want. His daughter is in Desi’s same school, but maybe not the same grade,” she offered. “You’re going to talk to her before you come, though, right?”
“Right,” I promised. “She’ll have to know at least some of it, because she’s going to question why we’re not staying at my place, and why all the extra security.”
“Good.” She looked at her family. “I’ll be fine.”
“You bet your ass you will,” Maven declared. “We’ll see you Sunday for dinner? I want an update, too, on everything.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Make sure you stay with your bodyguard at all times,” I ordered. “I’ll meet you at your house as soon as I can.”